Getting set up to do GPU accelerated machine learning in Elixir on a fresh Google Cloud Platform VM

exla_gpu_instructions.txt

# So you want to do machine learning in elixir on a fresh GCP VM with a GPU?


=== setup a VM ===
1. chose a gpu (T4), make sure you use debian 11 bullseye and the right region
2. dont use the default boot disk
3. do change the boot disk to have 50GB of space
4. get yourself a bunch of ram (for re-training BERT with 250 text samples 15Gb wasn't enough)
5. ssh in:
    gcloud compute ssh instance-6


=== install the nvidia driver===
<<< need to do this even though it gets uninstalled later, apparently >>>

sudo apt upgrade 
sudo apt install build-essential -y
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

BASE_URL=https://us.download.nvidia.com/tesla
DRIVER_VERSION=525.105.17
curl -fSsl -O $BASE_URL/$DRIVER_VERSION/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-$DRIVER_VERSION.run
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-$DRIVER_VERSION.run

* guessing is ok
* dont need 32 bit compat
* dont need vulcan

nvidia-smi  # check that it works!


=== install cuda 118 ===
# (this is the slowest part)
curl -O https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/11.8.0/local_installers/cuda-repo-debian11-11-8-local_11.8.0-520.61.05-1_amd64.deb   
sudo dpkg -i cuda-repo-debian11-11-8-local_11.8.0-520.61.05-1_amd64.deb
sudo cp /var/cuda-repo-debian11-11-8-local/cuda-*-keyring.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/
sudo apt install software-properties-common -y
sudo add-apt-repository contrib
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install cuda

# * english
# * yes uninstall the previous driver stuff

=== install cudnn === 
# go to https://developer.nvidia.com/rdp/cudnn-download
# open inspector / network tab and make sure record is set
# download the right package for debian 11
# cancel it
# right click the right request after all the redirects and copy as curl
# change the filename with -o removing the ? and everything after

sudo dpkg -i cudnn-local-repo-debian11-8.9.0.131_1.0-1_amd64.deb
sudo cp /var/cudnn-local-repo-debian11-8.9.0.131/cudnn-local-EDAE65B7-keyring.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/

=== install erlang esl from erlang home === 
curl -O https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/erlang/debian/pool/esl-erlang_25.3-1~debian~bullseye_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i esl-erlang_25.3-1~debian~bullseye_amd64.deb
sudo apt --fix-broken install -y


=== install elixir from source ===
mkdir elixir
cd elixir
curl -LO https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/releases/download/v1.14.4/elixir-otp-25.zip
sudo apt install unzip
unzip elixir-otp-25.zip
export PATH="/home/williamgoldstein/elixir/bin:$PATH"


=== set EXLA flags ===
export XLA_TARGET=cuda118


=== create an elixir project ===
cd ~
mix new proj
cd proj
vim mix.exs
  # add dependencies:
    {:bumblebee, "~> 0.3.0"},
    {:axon, "~> 0.5.1"},
    {:nx, "~> 0.5.1"},
    {:exla, "~> 0.5.1"},
    {:explorer, "~> 0.5.0"}

mix local.hex --force
mix deps.get
mix local.rebar --force